Black Watch home to tears and anger

It was a bittersweet homecoming. There was obvious jubilation as troops embraced wives, girlfriends and ecstatic children after their gruelling six-month mission. But it was tinged with sadness and bitterness; sadness for five colleagues who died in the controversial deployment to Camp Dogwood near Baghdad and bitterness that the 279-year-old Black Watch regiment will almost certainly have undertaken its last mission before being consigned to history.

Around 200 soldiers arrived at their base in Wiltshire yesterday. At around 9.30am, they appeared out of the mist over Salisbury Plain to the sound of a single piper playing the Black Watch's parade march, 'Highland Laddie'.

They were greeted by their loved ones, clutching balloons and Saltires, while the single men in the battalion were taken straight to the cookhouse at their Warminster base for their homecoming 'beer and breakfast'.

Michelle Halliday, 38, summed up the feelings of many of the families as she told of her delight at the safe return of her husband, Corporal Scott Halliday, 33, from Fife. But she voiced resentment at how the regiment's possible disbanding has been handled.

'I think it was very insensitive to bring that up while they were still in Iraq,' she said. 'It must have been hard for the guys. One minute they [the government] were trying to say how great the Black Watch were and the next minute they were saying right, you're in the bin.'

The remaining 450 members of the regiment are expected to return today and tomorrow. Their homecoming means Tony Blair has fulfilled his promise to bring the troops back in time for Christmas, but that is unlikely to diminish the anger felt across much of Scotland at plans to axe one infantry battalion and merge the remaining five into one 'super-regiment'.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is expected to formally tell the House of Commons tomorrow that the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers will be merged, with the resulting five battalions amalgamated into a single Royal Scottish Regiment. Yesterday, opposition parties and army veterans condemned the decision.

Jeff Duncan, campaign manager with Save the Scottish Regiments, warned that Labour would be 'wiped out' of Scotland in next year's general election and also refused to rule out a campaign of civil disobedience.

'Our anger is even more acute than before,' he said. 'Serving soldiers, veterans and the vast majority of the general public do not want to see these regiments merged, and if the proposals go ahead we will punish Labour at the ballot box. We will show Labour the kind of gratitude and loyalty that they have shown the soldiers returning home today and the families of the soldiers killed.'

The campaign is holding a rally in Edinburgh on Saturday, which will be addressed by Menzies Campbellm and Alex Salmond, senior figures in the Liberal Democrats and the SNP.

The day of protest is also expected to see army pipe bands from Holland joining thousands of campaigners and representatives of all six Scottish regiments in a march along Princes Street.

'These are men who fought for their country, who watched friends die to defend our freedom, and I think they want to show this government what they think of being sidelined,' Duncan added.